A Visit to Pacific Northwest National Laboratories

Cathy Balas, Avetec’s Executive Director of Education and  Dan Heighton, Clark State Community College professor recently spent time at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratories planning student internships and faculty externships working through a National Science Foundation grant.  Clark State students and faculty will build skills in cyber-security and high performance clustered computing.

Aspire P-16 Collaborative Meeting Held

As a member of the Aspire P-16 collaborative, Avetec helped plan and carry out a meeting allowing business and education leaders to address the challenge of preparing students for the 21st Century workforce.

Fundamentals of Chess

STARS students learned the fundamentals of chess during two STARS sessions and competed against each other following this orientation period. They also had the opportunity to view a hand carved 100 year old chess set brought in by Officer Matt Parr, one of the STARS mentors and staff members.

Dontrae Sparks new to the STARS program and new to the game of chess, beat out all of his components and was crowned Chess King! His reward was the winning chess board and pieces.

STARS is a collaborative program with Avetec, Clark State Community College’s GEAR UP program, the Springfield City Police Department, the Clark County Juvenile Court, and the Ohio Department of Youth Services involving 6th graders at Lincoln and Perrin Woods elementary schools in science and math after school learning.
 

Recognition for a Job Well Done

Mike Madero Receives Recognition for a Job Well Done

According to Ian Halliwell, a Senior Research Scientist at Avetec and incoming Chairman of the Gas Turbine Engines Technical Committee (GTETC) of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), “Gas Turbine Engine technology means a lot of things to a lot of people.  As a new technical committee we wanted a logo that would capture and convey the skills and excitement involved in the technology of gas turbine engines in a clear and artistic manner.” 

For Mike Madero, Graphics Designer & Program Manager at Avetec, that description inspired the work of art that has now been adopted as the AIAA Gas Turbine Engines Technical Committee’s logo.  On January 5, 2010 AIAA awarded its GTETC Chairman’s Award to Madero, recognizing him for the new logo which will be used worldwide by the AIAA.  Rarely has an AAIA Technical Committee given such an award to someone who is not a member but they made an exception in Mike’s case.

 
Avetec congratulates Mike Madero and thanks AIAA for its recognition of Mike’s talents.
 

Interns important at Avetec

Getting work experience with computer programming and learning about rotary engines are the goals that University of Cincinnati mechanical engineering student Justin Speer has set for himself for his winter coop term at Avetec. 

Justin is in his third year as a mechanical engineering student and began work on Jan. 4, 2010.  He will work winter quarter and also hopes to work summer quarter at Avetec, spending spring quarter back at U.C. in classes.
 
Karleine Justice, Research Scientist, explains that the research team is excited to welcome Justin to Avetec. “Justin will definitely get to achieve his goals.  He is already deeply into a project that will require him to use and learn FORTRAN and apply it to research in rotary engine performance and efficiency.”

Avetec’s education initiative is helping fund Justin’s work at Avetec.  “Creating a highly skilled 21st Century workforce in Springfield, Ohio is key to our future and important to Avetec,” explains Cathy Balas, Executive Director Avetec’s education division.  “Giving a student a very challenging real-world problem and allowing them the opportunity to take the lead on it is our approach.  Research team engineers and scientists provide mentoring and guidance, but at Avetec students are quickly given challenges and opportunities to contribute and to learn.”

Dr. Jeff Dalton, Avetec’s Chief Technology Officer, concurs, saying, “We like to give students the opportunity to have an impact on our research.  It compliments the learning they gain at school and helps them enter their career ready to contribute.”

“I know that engineering is where I want to make my career,” Justin explains.  “Working on research with Avetec will allow me to gain new skills and help me understand what else I need to learn when I return to campus.”